A Flower Among Flames
by Ticket-to-azkaban
Summary: When Primrose doesn't let her sister, Katniss, volunteer for her in the 74th Hunger Games, Prim must fight for her life against the other tributes.
1. Chapter 1: The Reaping

A Flower Among Flames

Chapter 1: The Reaping

I lay awake in my bed. Today is the day. Today is the day where I see whether my life ends or not. Today will be the day, where a loved one, a friend, a family member, might be ripped from my life. I rolled around in my single sheet bed looking for some comfort before Katniss comes and tells me to wake up. If it were up to me, I would freeze time in this moment. I want this moment, eternal. _Okay Prim, get your act together. You can do this. Stay strong._ "Oh Prim! Wake up, you've slept in nearly half an hour! Today is the reaping! But your clothes on and get out of bed!" Yelled Katniss as she barged into my room.

"Okay, I'm going, calm down" I say as I wipe the sleep out of my eyes. Katniss exits the room, leaving me a bit of privacy. As I pulled on my dress, a tear formed in the corner of my eye. This was my first reaping. The chance of my slip of paper were very slim. I know I'm being ridiculous, but the thought of abandoning my family for certain doom crushes me. I finish getting ready and head down stairs. Katniss puts my small breakfast on the table. My mom has already begun eating.

"Good morning Primrose!" Crooned my mom as I entered the room.

"You too, Mom" I mutter through my obviously fake smile. I sit down and eat the little amount of scrambled eggs that are on my plate. I have to eat fast because the reaping begins in about half an hour. "So…Uhm…Katniss, wh-what if I get chosen? What happens then?" I stuttered.

"Hush Prim, don't think like that. This is your first year, you know how low the chances are of you getting reaped are, right?" Spat Katniss, who is now cleaning up the kitchen in a flustered manor. Her face gets very red. I see right through her tough act. She really is just as scared as I am. She can tell I know something is wrong so she hurried us all out the door, "C'mon lets go". We left our house, not knowing if we would come back to it ever again.

At the town stage, where the annual reapings are held, we are greeted by Effie Trinket. Effie is a, hmmm, _colorful_ young woman to say the least. And I say that about her personality _and _her look.  
>"Ladies, gentlemen, if you could please assemble in an orderly fashion!" She spoke into the microphone as the peacekeepers got everything ready on stage. All of district twelve assembled. The air was stale. The whole attitude of today just felt…dead. No one spoke. And I mean, <em>no one spoke.<em>The microphone screeched as Effie began speaking into it again, "Let's begin, let's begin! Okay ladies first! Our female tribute for the 75th hunger games will be…." My heart pounded. Worse than when Louis Johnston asked me out in 3rd grade. And that is saying something, "PRIMEROSE EVERDEEN!". I looked around to see where the tribute- to-be was standing to get a closer glimpse. Everyone was staring at me. For some reason, my mind just registered the fact that Effie had just called _my name. _I collapsed to my knees, sobbing. The whole crowd gave me a few moments of silence as I recollected myself and eventually stood back up. Words began to form on Katniss's mouth when I turned to look at her.

"No! NO! I volunteer! I volunteer for tribute!" Yelled Katniss. She repeated this over and over, as if the whole world were deaf.

"No. I am fighting. I will be tribute." I said loud enough for the crowd to hear. "Please Katniss, it is for the best." I whispered into her ear as I began my walk up onto the stage. Effie greeted me by shaking my hand. I stood to the back of the stage as Effie began to call out male tribute.

"Male tribute is…" Effie did this demonic pause, every. Single. Year. "Peeta Mellark!" She sang in her irritating high pitch, goodie two shoes voice. I don't really know Peeta all that well. I think my sister kind of has a thing for him, though. I made eye contact with her, she was devastated. A family member and a friend, gone. Gone with the wind. Gone to the capitol. Seeing this emotion strike Katniss made a newfound hatred for the capitol burn through my chest. Tears rolled down the dirty cheeks of my face, slicing through the layers of dirt. These were not sad tears. I am not in fact sad at all right now. I am angry. I am enraged. I may be little, I may be weak, but I am not going down without a fight.

The Reaping ceremony is now over. I sped off the stage, guarded by two peacekeepers, to see my Mom and Katniss. We cried, and cried, before a single word was spoken.

"Mom, do not worry for me. I didn't let Katniss volunteer because if I die you will still have a warrior. I love you. If I don't come back, I want you to know that I love you and I fought my hardest" I muttered into her ear as we hugged in the warmest hug I had ever received. Now I turned to my sister.

"Oh Katniss. I'm going to be fighting for you out there. You will be giving me the strength. I love you, I will always love you. I'm not going down without a fight. I will train my hardest, all for you Katniss. I love you" I said louder than I should've. I was immediately taken into her arms. We hugged for what seemed forever. Forever was ruined by the bloody peacekeepers who tore us apart. Effie came up to me, with Peeta right behind her.

"Come Prim, were are off to the train station!" Exclaimed Effie. I wanted to slap her. Why is she so happy? Does she think it's a happy thing for a twelve year old girl to be torn from her family? News flash. It's horrible.

Leaving district twelve I thought, _you haven't seen the last of me district twelve. I will fight. I will win. I will return._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Effie guided me to my room. Room isn't really a fitting word to describe it. _Considering it is the size of my house! _I strip off my clothes down to my underwear.I lay down on the bed, and simply cry. I cry for Katniss, I cry for my Mom. I already miss them. It's only been an hour or so since I said my final farewells. This really sucks. I curl up in my huge king size bed and drift away into dreams.

I wake up and check my clock. It reads 4:30 PM. I slept for about two hours. I feel as though I haven't slept in days. My pillow is wet, I assume with tears. _Knock knock knock_. I shoot out of my bed too open the door, only to be let down by seeing Effie Trinket.

"Primrose, dearest! Dinner is in an hour, please bathe and get ready!" She squeals. I give her a nasty look to show that I'm really annoyed with how ecstatic she is for the games. She hands me a pastel yellow dress with white polka dots to wear to dinner. I may as well press my future murderers right? I walk out into the hallway. Peeta's room is right across the hall from mine. To the left of his door, is our shared shower. I walk into the shower, still in the underwear that I slept in. The bathroom was almost as big as my room. I'm assuming it was a ten by ten foot room. Right in the middle was a huge bathtub in the floor. The floor had beautiful tiles, painted with many different floral designs. All of a sudden, a blond head pops up out of the bath. I recognize it belonging to Peeta. He steps out of the bathtub…naked. He looks at me with a face of pure horror.

"Oh. My. God" He cried as he stumbled to the towels. By this time, I'm covering my eyes. This is so embarrassing. I can tell my face is red as the tomatoes I grow in my small garden. I uncover my eyes because he has to be covered up by now. He's waddling over to me, wrapped up in a towel.

"I'm so sorry! I should've knocked" I whisper as he brushes past me.

"It's okay" He giggles, "I should've locked the door anyways" He has the friendliest smirk on his also red face. Peeta exits the room clutching his clothes in his hand._ Whew_. Katniss will be hearing about this when I get home. If I _do _come home. I take off my bra and panties and sink into the hot water. There is a panel of buttons at the foot of the bathtub. I select rose scented soap and the water almost immediately turns red. The jets turn on and the soap water automatically washes me. I could definitely get used to this. Next I choose, moisturizing shampoo. The water turns back to normal color. Assuming that the water now has shampoo in it, I sink my head underwater and lather my hair. Popping my head up above water, my now silk like hair, wraps and curls around my face. I prop my head up against the bathtub side and close my eyes. I daydream of myself winning these games. I imagine my life with no hardships in the victors village. I will have all the supplies I need to become Panem's number one nurse. I check the analog clock on the wall which reads 5:00 PM. I reluctantly got out of the soothing water. I dried my hair with my towel and pull up my polka dotted dress. I go back to my bedroom. There was a large bag full of make up under my mirror. I assume Effie must have put it there while I was bathing.

I've never had enough money for makeup. One time Katniss got a tube of used lipstick for less than it was worth. One day, we put it on. I loved how it looked. I love being flashy, though I don't have many opportunities to be it. I applied bold red makeup, some blush, and mascara. I didn't add too much cause I didn't want to look like a "hooker", as Katniss calls them. I looked very innocent. Who could possibly want to kill me now?

I leave my bedroom at the same time as Peeta. Effie gave us matching clothes. I probably should have suspected that. He is wearing a yellow collared long sleeved shirt and white slacks. We walked down the aisle together down to the dining room. Peeta is somewhat taller than me, but not by much. I'm about as tall as his shoulders. I tried not to stumble over my white high heels, but man, this is hard.

Entering the dining room I was pleased with scents of roasted chicken and various soups. The food was already on the table. The table had twenty four seats. We were the second pair of tributes to sit down. We sat across from them. I guessed they were from district eleven due to their black skin. The male was very scary. He was very muscular and had eyes that screamed revenge. The girl next to him was very different. She looked like a dear. She had bambi eyes, she reminded me of myself. Her light brown skin was very complimenting towards her other features. She had poofy black hair that had many, _many, _curls.

"Hi! My name is Primrose. But you can call me Prim. What's your name?" I said to the girl. She stared at me for a second before responding. I think I might have scared her.

"H-hi I'm Rue. Nice too meet ya" She sputtered. The other tributes filled the room. I ignored them and resumed my conversation with Rue. What a pretty name. We talked about our lives, our siblings, our hobbies and so on. By the time dessert was brought out, I felt like I have known this girl for my whole life. We all ate dessert without talking because we were too busy stuffing our mouths with every kind of cake known to man. The tributes cleared out of the room pair by pair, except Rue and I.

"Uhm, I don't really know how to put this but…Do you want to be allies? You know like, fight together when we're in the arena?" I asked Rue nervously.

"Yeah, sure, that sounds great" Rue exclaimed enthusiastically. I hugged her, and went off to bed. I guess I might have a chance at this after all.


End file.
